The Story of Maths

Season

2008

7.9

The history of mathematics from ancient times to the present day. Narrated by Oxford mathematics professor Marcus du Sautoy, the series covers the seminal moments and people in the development of maths.

Episode List

S1 • E1

The Language of the Universe

This program traces the development of mathematics in the Medeteranean region beginning with the Egyptians through the formalized geometry of the Greeks. Along the way a few remarkable methods emerged that predated formal mathematical methods by a thousand years.

S1 • E2

The Genius of the East

In India Marcus du Sautoy discovers how the symbol for the number zero was invented and in the Middle East he looks at the invention of the new language of algebra and the spread of Eastern knowledge to the West.

S1 • E3

The Frontiers of Space

By the 17th century, Europe had taken over from the Middle East as the world's powerhouse of mathematical ideas. Great strides had been made in understanding the geometry of objects fixed in time and space. The race was now on to discover the mathematics to describe objects in motion. Marcus explores the work of Rene Descartes and Pierre Fermat, whose famous Last Theorem would puzzle mathematicians for more than 350 years. He also examines Isaac Newton's development of the calculus, and goes in search of Leonard Euler, the father of topology or 'bendy geometry', and Carl Friedrich Gauss who, at the age of 24, was responsible for inventing a new way of handling equations - modular arithmetic.

S1 • E4

To Infinity and Beyond

After showing how fundamental mathematics is to our lives, Marcus du Sautoy explores the mathematics of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece. In Egypt, he uncovers use of a decimal system based on ten fingers of the hand, while in former Mesopotamia he discovers that the way we tell the time today is based on the Babylonian Base 60 number system. In Greece, he looks at the contributions of some of the giants of mathematics including Plato, Euclid, Archimedes and Pythagoras, who is credited with beginning the transformation of mathematics from a tool for counting into the analytical subject we know today.